Reading the Lightning Thief
by WittyPiglet
Summary: The chosen 7, plus Nico and Reyna are forced by the Fates to read the Percy Jackson Books. Part 1 of Reading the Books
1. The Book and Note

They had just arrived on the Argo 2 at Camp Jupiter and found Percy, much to everyone's joy. They had met Reyna, Hazel and Frank as well and enjoyed a lovely feast. Everything was going perfectly fine. Then a bright blinding flash filled the camp. Once it cleared, the Romans looked around. All the Greeks and their ship, along with Reyna, Hazel, and Frank were just simply _gone_. Just as the Romans screamed in anger at being tricked by the Greeks, time stopped. Everyone was frozen in place.

-Break-

Annabeth groaned quietly as she awoke on the hard, metal deck of the Argo 2. Upon gathering her surroundings, Annabeth noticed that she was surrounded by her unconscious fellow Greek demigods along with the three Roman demigods that they had met. But what had really horrified her was that the Argo 2 was floating in an abyss full of different colors. Black, shades of purple, blues, greens, yellows, reds, pinks, ect. Slowly her fellow demigods came to with groans as they rubbed their aching heads.

The small group of teenagers-Annabeth, Percy, Leo, Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Nico and Reyna- were all sitting up and looking around in confusion as they had no idea where they were. A hand shot out in front of Annabeth's face.

"Need a hand Wise Girl?" Annabeth looked up into the eyes of her boyfriend, Percy Jackson.

"Thanks Seaweed Brain," Annabeth takes said boyfriend's hand and he pulls her to her feet as the other various demigods got to their feet.

"Where is this place? What did you Grecos do?!" Reyna was nearly foaming at the mouth with how angry she was.

"We didn't do anything!" Piper glared at Reyna and crossed her arms. A full blown argument broke out over the two demigods, who were nearly attacking each other until Jason stepped in between them. Before anyone could say anything, there was a bright flash again and a book landed in the still sitting Leo's lap with a note. Everyone stared at him as he held the book up to read the title.

" _Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief_ -OOH, do we get to read Percy stories?" Annabeth rolled her eyes and picked up the discarded note that Leo of course ignored.

" _Dear Greek and Roman demigods of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter,  
we have summoned you to this pocket dimension to read  
a set of books about the past and the future.  
The first is Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief taking place  
_ _when Perseus Jackson is 12 years old.  
when you finish this book we will send the next.  
_

 _Sincerely,  
_ _The Fates_ "

Every single demigod cursed, none so more than Percy. A loud voice broke over all the cursing.

"I GET TO READ FIRST!" Leo shouted.


	2. I VAPORIZE MY TEACHER

None of this others decided to argue with the fire bug so they all got up and moved to the comfy living room where they all got comfy on the couches.

"Hurry up and start Valdez," Reyna crossed her arms and leaned back.

"OK, OK," Leo rolls his eyes. **"I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER** "

Everyone slowly looked at Percy causing the son of Poseidon to shrug his shoulders.

"I was 12, remember?"

Annabeth gives a small sigh and gestures for Leo to begin reading.

 **Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Did any of us...?" It was Leo who gave a small mumble of what the rest were all thinking.

 **If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe what-ever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

Everyone again turned to look at Percy whose face tinted red under their gazes.

"You actually gave good advice?" Annabeth started giggling at Nico's once in a life time joke causing Percy to give a indigent huff as he crossed his arms.

"Yes believe it or not I can give good advice." Everyone started laughing and Piper told Leo to keep reading.

 **Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

The light, joking aura had dimmed suddenly and everyone looked down and away from each other, thinking of someone they lost because of this life.

 **If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

"So do I," Nico glared down at his hands.

 **But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something stirring inside-stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a mat-ter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

 **Don't say I didn't warn you.**

 **My name is Percy Jackson.**

"No!" Leo suddenly shouted causing everyone to jump. "You're Peter Johnson!" Everyone just stared at Leo for a moment, then Percy spoke.

"You're dead after this Valdez."

 **I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

 **Am I a troubled kid?**

Choruses of 'yes' echoed throughout the living room as Percy sunk in his seat with a pout.

 **Yeah. You could say that.**

Snorts and giggles from everyone except Percy, Nico and Reyna filled the room.

 **I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan- twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

Annabeth had a dreamy look on her face at the thought of the museum while Leo was chuckling to himself about the thought of the kids on that bus.

Piper smacked Leo round the head and told him to keep reading. Leo obliged her.

 **I know-it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.**

Annabeth huffed and crossed her arms.

 **But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

 **Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

The Greeks, excluding Percy, thought that this Mr. Brunner sounded very familiar.

"Percy?" Reyna asked. "Is this Mr. Brunner important."

"Not saying."

Reyna's eyes narrowed dangerously and Leo began to read again to avoid any fighting.

 **I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

More snorts and giggles.

 **Boy, was I wrong.**

 **See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

Full out laughter filled the room.

 **And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind- the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit** **the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**

Tears were now gathering in the demigods' eyes as they laughed so hard and Leo struggled to continue reading through his laughter.

 **And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"Oh boy we sure do," Leo chuckled as everyone slowly calmed down from the laughter.

 **This trip, I was determined to be good.**

 **All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

Everyone's eyes narrowed at the mention of this girl and Percy's face twisted into an uncharacteristic sneer. Piper gave a gagging sound.

"Peanut butter and ketchup?!"

Leo continued reading before Piper could rant.

 **Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

"I don't think Grover would like that description Percy," Annabeth commented with a smirk.

 **He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

Annabeth sighed and shook her head.

 **Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation.**

"What'd you do?" Leo had a mischievous smirk that would make the Stoll brothers green with envy. Percy refused to answer so Leo continued to read on.

 **The headmaster had threatened me with death-**

"WHAT?!"

 **by in-school suspension-**

"Oh..."

 **if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"Sounds like a riot," Nico rolled his eyes.

 **"I'm going to kill her, " I mumbled.**

 **Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter. "**

"In your _hair_?" Piper's disgusted look came back.

 **He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

 **"That's it. " I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"That puny satyr is attempting to hold down the great sea!" Leo made a comical pose only for both Jason and Piper to smack him.

"Keep reading fire bug."

 **"You're already on probation, " he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens. "**

Hazel nodded. She didn't want Percy to get in trouble.

 **Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"Uh oh," Frank mumbled, though nobody heard him as they were all too enraptured in the story to notice. **  
**

 **Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

 **He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

 **It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"They're actually much, much older." Reyna and Annabth said in unision. They looked at each other and shared a small smile as the others just watched them in shock.

 **He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone col-umn with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of inter-esting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

 **Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

Nico's eyebrows knit together as Mrs. Dodds sounded scarily familiar.

 **From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey, " real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

 **One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real seri-ous, and said, "You're absolutely right. "**

It suddenly clicked in Nico's head and he turned to stare at his secret crush.

"Mrs. Dodds is Alecto, isn't she?" Nico asked quietly so no one else could hear.

"Yeah," Percy nodded and gave Nico a small smile giving the Ghost King butterflies in his stomach.

 **Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

"Such a happy subject," Leo joked with a cocky grin.

 **Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele,**

Everyone rolled their eyes at Bobofit's immaturity.

 **and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

 **It came out louder than I meant it to.**

Everyone started snickering.

 **The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

 **"Mr. Jackson, " he said, "did you have a comment?"**

 **My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir. "**

"Awe, poor Percy," Hazel said and because it was her was the only reason it sounded genuine.

 **Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

 **I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

Frank and Jason, along with the majority of the others, wrinkled their noses at the mere thought.

 **"Yes, " Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ... "**

 **"Well... " I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-"**

"God?" Reyna and Annabeth cocked their eyebrows at Percy, who blushed in embarrassment.

 **"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

 **"Titan, " I corrected myself. "And ... He didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"**

"Gross!" Leo made fake gagging noises and Piper smacked him yet again.

"What is this?! Abuse Leo Day?!"

"Yes, now keep reading."

Leo pouted and continued reading.

 **"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

 **"-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans, " I continued, "and the gods won. "**

"You just summed up a hundred year war in a few sentences." Annabeth looked at her boyfriend with wide eyes as he just shrugged.

 **Some snickers from the group.**

"He got it right though..."

 **Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids. '"**

Everyone's eyes narrowed.

 **"And why, Mr. Jackson, " Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

 **"Busted, " Grover muttered.**

 **"Shut up, " Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

Chuckles filled the living room as they all thought it was pretty damn funny that Bobofit got embarrassed like that.

 **At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

It clicked in Annabeth's head like it had in Nico's about Alecto.

"Mr. Brunner is Chiron, huh?"

"Yep."

 **I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir. "**

 **"I see. " Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach.**

Gagging filled the small room.

 **The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"On a happy note," Hazel looked confused and Frank patted her shoulder awkwardly.

 **The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doo-fuses.**

 **Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson. "**

 **I knew that was coming.**

Jason snickered and Piper hit his shoulder.

 **I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

 **Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go- intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"They have."

 **"You must learn the answer to my question, " Mr. Brunner told me.**

 **"About the Titans?"**

 **"About real life. And how your studies apply to it. "**

Annabeth nodded

 **"Oh. "**

 **"What you learn from me, " he said, "is vitally impor-tant. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. "**

Percy looked down. That's all anyone expected of him, the best.

 **I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"For a good reason Percy."

 **I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman per-son who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

The boys looked dizzy just at the thought of having to do that.

 **But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life. No-he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

Everyone gave Percy looks of sympathy, but said nothing.

 **I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He probably had been," Nico spoke up quietly and sadly.

 **He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

 **The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

 **Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurri-cane blowing in.**

"Sounds like the Gods are mad, especially Jupiter and Neptune," Frank said and looked at Jason and Percy, the latter staring at the ground.

 **Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

 **Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

The others winced.

 **"Detention?" Grover asked.**

 **"Nah, " I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean-I'm not a genius. "**

"No kidding," Jason snorted and Percy glared at him fiercely.

 **Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"  
**

It was silent for a moment and then everyone started laughing at once. After ten minutes of continuous laughter, they calmed enough for Leo to keep reading, though there were a few giggles here and there.

 **I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

 **I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat.**

Percy smiled at the mention of his mom.

 **I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

Everyone gave Percy pitying looks that he tried to ignore.

 **Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

Leo stopped reading and looked off with a glazed look. He deftly handed the book to Jason and started digging into his magic tool belt as he slid to the unoccupied floor. "A motorized cafe table..."

Everyone stared at him in silence.

Jason started to read.

 **I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends-I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

The demigods' faces turned red in anger. Jason took a deep breathe and began to read again before anyone could start yelling.

 **"Oops. " She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray- painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

Piper and Hazel held matching looks of disgust.

 **I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper. " But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

Snickering was heard through the room at the obvious pun.

 **I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

 **Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

"Someone's in trouble~" Leo sing-songed from his spot on the floor, building whatever.

Percy glared at him.

 **Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-"**

 **"-the water-"**

 **"-like it grabbed her-"**

"Of course it did."

 **| didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

More snickers.

 **As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc. , etc. , Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a tri-umphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-"**

 **"I know, " I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks. "**

"Wrong answer," Nico says quietly.

 **That wasn't the right thing to say.**

 **"Come with me, " Mrs. Dodds said.**

 **"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her. "**

 **I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"Poor Grover."

 **She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

A snicker came from the general direction of a certain Latino elf.

 **"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood, " she said.**

 **"But-"**

 **"You-will-stay-here. "**

 **Grover looked at me desperately.**

 **"It's okay, man, " I told him. "Thanks for trying. "**

 **"Honey, " Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now. "**

 **Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

The female demigods all had narrowed eyes at the mention of Percy's female bully.

 **I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

 **How'd she get there so fast?**

Eyes rolls from all, well, except Percy.

 **I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

Leo chuckled, knowing exactly what that's like.

 **I wasn't so sure.**

 **I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

 **Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"Weird..."

 **I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

 **Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"Nope!"

"Leo?"

"Yes Beauty Queen?"

"SHUT UP!"

"Can do!"

 **But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

It never is.

 **I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

 **Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

Hazel shook her head. "Not a good sign."

 **Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

 **Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

Nico smirked. "Oh she definitely does."

 **"You've been giving us problems, honey, " she said.**

 **I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

 **She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

"Oooh, what did you do Percy?" Leo looked up from what looked like a finished miniature motor.

"I didn't do anything!"

 **The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

 **She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

Annabeth gave an unladylike snort.

 **I said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am. "**

 **Thunder shook the building.**

 **"We are not fools, Percy Jackson, " Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain. "**

 **I didn't know what she was talking about.**

"Neither do we..."

 **All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

Snickers.

 **Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book**

Annabeth andReyna gave Percy dissaproving stares that he ignored completely and gave Jason a pleading look for himto continue before they started ranting. Jason smirked and leaned back, not continuing the book just yet.

Annabeth and Reyna then began yelling at Percy about the importance of school work and how he should apply himself and not cheat and work hard, ect. Jason let this go on for a full fifteen minutes before cutting Percy some slack and continuing on with the book.

 **and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

 **"Well?" she demanded.**

 **"Ma'am, I don't... "**

 **"Your time is up, " she hissed.**

 **Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"Sounds like a wicked cool thing to of seen." Leo smirked from where he started on making a table after setting his completed motor to the side.

"Well, not at the time but yeah it was."

 **Then things got even stranger.**

"How?"

 **Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

Percy shared a knowing grin with Annabeth as the others realized the pen was of great importance.

 **"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

 **Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

Everyone held their breathe.

 **With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword-Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

Percy unconsciously pulled said pen/sword out and rubbed it with his thumb.

 **Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

Nico leaned back and smirked.

 **My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Amateur~" Jason smirked.

Percy, like a child, stuck his tongue out at Jason.

 **She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

 **And she flew straight at me.**

 **Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

Everyone gave Percy a 'duh' look and he flushed in embarrassment.

 **The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**

 **Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

Frank and Leo shivered at the thought of those eyes looking at them.

 **I was alone.**

 **There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

 **Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

 **My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or some-thing.**

"Nope," Leo gave a jolly smile. "Though I wouldn't mind some if you got any Percy?" Piper and Hazel, to everyone's surprise, each took a turn slapping Leo's head.

 **Had I imagined the whole thing?**

Everyone shook their heads.

 **I went back outside.**

 **It had started to rain.**

 **Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt. "**

"Who?" Frank tilted his head in confusion.

 **I said, "Who?"**

"OH NO!" Leo had a look of horror on his face. "Frank has Percyitis!" Frank and Percy both glared at him.

 **"Our teacher. Duh!"**

 **I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

 **She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

 **I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

 **He said, "Who?"**

 **But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Grover can't lie," Percy gave a small smile at the thought of his friend.

 **"Not funny, man, " I told him. "This is serious. "**

 **Thunder boomed overhead.**

Jason rolled his eyes.

 **I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, read-ing his book, as if he'd never moved.**

 **I went over to him.**

 **He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson. "**

 **I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

"Of course you hadn't."

 **"Sir, " I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

 **He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

 **"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher. "**

"She's gone."

 **He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

Jason stopped and looked around. "That's the end of this chapter, who wants to read next."

"I will," Annabeth reached out and took the book from Jason and started to read.


	3. SOCKS OF DEATH

**A/N** **: _I just want everyone to know that this particular fanfic, as well as my separate fic 'Running', will be updated at some point every Thursday. If you want to know the full updating/posting schedule then it is on my (unfinished) profile._**

* * *

Annabeth cleared her throat and squinted her as like she usually does when she reads. Percy loves it, but he would never let Annabeth know that.

 **"THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH"**

One beat.

Two Beats.

Three Beats.

"The actual fuck?"

 **I was used to the occasional weird experience,**

Annabeth gave an unladylike snort and continued on with the chapter.

 **but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"Are you sure you're not crazy?"

"Valdez?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't make me hurt you."

 **Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"You are a psycho."

"Hey! You're supposed to be on my side Annabeth!" Percy, the savior of Olympus, was honest to Gods pouting at the daughter of Athena. She didn't bother with a response as she looked back at the book held in her hands.

 **It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

 **Almost.**

"Grover?"

"Grover."

 **But Grover couldn't fool me.**

"Called it."

 **When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

 **Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

"No duh."

"Wanna go Grace?" Both boys were glaring heatedly at each other until their respective girlfriends whacked them a good one.

 **I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

Each demigod winced, remembering their own vivid nightmares about their various monster encounters.

 **The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

Leo gave a low, and long, whistle as he tightened a bolt on...whatever that thing is. "Your dads are piiiiiissssed." He drew out the word and smirked. "No wonder you two have daddy issues." It was only Hazel and Piper standing in between Leo and two thirds of the little big three that saved his skin from being maimed.

Annabeth hurried to continue.

 **I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.**

Percy tried to ignore the glare being sent his way by his totally loving girlfriend.

 **I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

A few snickers here and there.

 **Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"I still don't know what it means." Percy shrugged his shoulders and looked to Annabeth for an answer, but she was giggling too hard. Reyna sighed through her nose and answered the confused boy.

"You basically called your teacher an old drunkard."

"Oh..."

 **The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

Percy avoided his girlfriend's disappointed gaze. He couldn't stand disappointing Annabeth.

 **Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

 **I was homesick.**

Hazel and Piper made a show of cooing over this and Frank tried to gain Hazel's attention.

 **I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

Annabeth bit back a growl at the mention of that...that sorry excuse for a creature. And that's putting her feelings lightly.

 **And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"You underestimate that poor Satyr."

"Do not!"

 **I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

Some of the others began putting one and two together.

 **As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Good," Annabeth gave her boyfriend a genuine smile while Jason and Leo fake gagged. Nico bit his lip and adverted his eyes from the display. It hurt too much to watch.

 **The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

The guys as well as Piper and Hazel gave Percy sympathetic nods and were dreading their turns to read.

"Wait, how did you guys read so well?" Frank tilted his head and furrowed his brows like he does when he's confused or thinking.

"Hmm?" Annabeth looked up and met the shifter's gaze. "Oh! The Fates were kind enough to send Ancient Greek copies.

Bless the Fates.

 **I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

Hazel unconsciously scratched her upper arm.

 **I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**

"As will I."

"Awe, c'mon. Really Annabeth?"

"Really Seaweed Brain.

 **I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

Annabeth gave a Percy a proud smile that made the dark haired boy blush.

 **I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam.**

"Awe, it's cute how you care what he thinks." Piper said as Hazel nodded alongside her. Poor Percy's blush darkened a considerable amount and the boys, minus Nico, snickered at the son of Poseidon. Nico couldn't help but think how Percy's blush was kind of...cute? Did that word work? Whatever...

 **I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

Piper and Hazel squealed, causing Percy to slide down in his sleep.

 **I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor. I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."**

"Does anyone else think that Percy catching them talking about him is highly coincidental?"

"Uh, the Fates?"

"Good enough for me."

 **I froze.**

 **I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

A few guilty looks before one by one the group of demigods began nodding, staring with Leo and ending with a very hesitant Reyna.

 **I inched closer.**

 **"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"**

"Monster always know..."

 **"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

"How mature we talking? He's the same today as he was then."

"I resent that!"

 **"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— "**

Reyna frowned and her eyes narrowed. What could be so important...?

 **"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

 **"Sir, he saw her... ."**

"He's crazy remember?" Leo dodged the shoe thrown at him and went back to working on what was beginning to look like a tiny car engine.

 **"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

Hazel smiled. "The mist really is a lovely thing."

 **"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

"What's he talking about? What duties did he fail?" Frank looked towards the two across from him, but Percy and Annabeth shared this look that made them all drop any questions they had.

 **"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

 **The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"Subtle Percy, very subtle." Nico gave him a rare smile and Percy stuck his tongue out again.

 **Mr. Brunner went silent.**

 **My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

 **A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller** **than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

 **I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

 **A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muf-fled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal** **snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

Piper suddenly jumped up with an excited glint in her eyes. "Is that Chiron?!"

Percy chuckled and nods. "Yeah, Mr. Brunner is Chiron in disguise." He continued quickly before she could ask anymore questions. "And, no, I will not tell you why he was in a disguise at my school. The book will probably let you all know."

 **A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

 **Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right** **since the winter solstice."**

"What happened on the winter solstice?" Hazel was curious, she had to admit. Percy just shook his head and smiled sadly at the dark-toned girl.

 **"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

 **"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

 **"Don't remind me."**

 **The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

 **I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

 **Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

 **Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

 **"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

 **I didn't answer.**

 **"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

 **"Just... tired."**

 **I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

 **I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing. But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

Tiny, sad smiles crossed the majority of demigod faces. It was the sad truth that they were all in danger since the days they were born without a say in the matter, condemned just for who their parents were. The world could be such a cruel place for them all.

 **The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside. For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

 **"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

"Chiron...really isn't the best at trying to comfort kids." Annabeth chuckled dryly.

"We can tell." Leo snickered quietly and went back to tweaking a few wires on his mini-engine.

 **His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

"Ugh!" Annabeth threw her arms up in disgust, dropping the book in the process, and sneered at it as if it itself had offended her.

"C'mon Annabeth. She's basically gone from my life so all is good." Percy smiled and rubbed his girlfriend's back in hopes of calming her down.

"I know, but just-UGH! I've never even met her and I can't stand her!"

"I know, I know."

It took a good couple of minutes before Annabeth could bring herself to pick the book up again to continue on with the chapter. Neither of them, nor anyone around them, saw the disappointed and heartbroken look being sent their way.

 **I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

 **"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

 **My eyes stung.**

"Awe!" Hazel and Piper sent Percy fond, supportive smiles.

 **Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

 **"Right," I said, trembling.**

 **"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's noth-ing to be-"**

"He really can't talk to kids, can he?" Leo grinned and shook his head, setting the engine aside so he could pay more attention to the book.

"He's good with them," Annabeth shrugged and paused before continuing. "Just not in the comforting department."

 **"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

"Poor Percy."

"I'm _right_ here!"

 **"Percy-"**

 **But I was already gone.**

 **On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

 **The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a fam-ily of nobodies.**

More than one person crossed their arms and sent Percy such angry looks that it had the hero of Olympus shrinking back in his seat.

"You, Perseus Jackson, are the farthest thing from a nobody." It surprised them when Reyna spoke up to defend him. She had mainly stayed quietly in her seat, listening closely and observing the Greeks with them.

Annabeth nodded in agreement to the daughter of Bellona. "She's right! You slew the Minotaur, beheaded Medusa, and defeated Procrustes. You also _won_ a fight against Ares, the _GOD_ of war-"

"Okay Annabeth." Percy held his hands up in surrender. "I get it-"

"Oh, no." The daughter of Athena shook her head. "You will let me finish. You did all that before you even turned thirteen! And then, the next summer, you fought Laistrygonians that I had to save your sorry behind from! Then we sailed the Sea of Monsters where we faced the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and Circe! You were a fool and _taunted_ Polyphemus so we could escape his cave with the Golden Fleece to save Thalia's tree!"

 _"What?!"_

"Not now Jason," Piper shushed the blonde next to her, along with anyone else who thought to interrupt. "This is getting _good_!"

Nico, ignoring the hushing gestures from Piper, cut in when Annabeth stopped to take a breath. "Don't forget the winter after that summer when you guys fought the Manticore to help me and...Bianca." Hazel wanted to reach out and comfort her brother, but refrained from doing so. "You followed the Hunters and all that on a quest to save Artemis and Annabeth where you battled and defeated the Nemean Lion, fought the Erymanthian boar as well as the Hydra, and entered the Garden of Hesperides." Nico looked away from all the eyes boring into his soul, his face flushed red as he felt sea green on him. "You even held up the fucking sky-"

"Language!"

"Sorry Hazel..."

Annabeth, seeing Nico uncomfortable with all the attention on him, continued for him. "That following summer we entered and maneuvered around the Labyrinth and you even got sent to Ogygia and met...Calypso, the daughter of Atlas." The blonde pursed her lips and continued with her rant before anyone, especially Percy, could cut her off again. "You entered the underworld _alive_ and escaped alive multiple times. You bore the Curse of Achilles for crying out loud and helped us win the damn Titan War! So, yes Percy, you are, just like Reyna had said, the _farthest_ thing from a nobody!"

Silence followed Annabeth's speech as she panted quietly for breath.

"Annabeth..." Percy reached out to pull his girlfriend close to his chest. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't...Don't you _ever_ fucking dare to say you are a nobody."

"I won't, I'm sorry."

When everything was calm and good again, Annabeth once again picked up the fallen book and hurried to continue.

 **They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

 **What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a sum-mer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

 **"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

 **They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

"Don't even say anything, Annabeth."

"But-"

"Nothing."

"Humph."

 **The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover,**

Cue more cooing from a daughter of Pluto and Aphrodite.

 **but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

 **During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing ner-vously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he** **expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased.**

"How dense are you seaweed brain?" Annabeth shot her boyfriend a grin and he mimicked her.

"Quite dense, actually. That's why I have you around, Wise Girl."

Nico's fists clenched and he felt eyes on him. He turned and caught the curious glance of Reyna on him. He glared at her, but her look never wavered.

 **But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

 **Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

 **I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"Smooth. Real smooth Percy." Piper winked at him and the son of Poseidon stuck his tongue out in retaliation.

 **Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?"**

 **I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

 **Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

 **"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

"We would all really like to know!" Leo huffed and crossed his arms. "Can't you guys just tell us already? I'm dying over here!"

"Sorry Leo, but no. It would ruin the story."

 **He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**

 **"Grover-"**

 **"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

 **"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

"He is, isn't he?" Annabeth smiled fondly at the mention of the satyr's horrendous lying skills.

 **His ears turned pink.**

"Cute."

 **From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer. The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes,**

The majority of Demigods winced and unconsciously rubbed their temples, just thinking of trying to ready the card.

"They really should have been more considerate when designing those business cards." Annabeth huffed quietly.

"You're telling me."

 **but I finally made out something like:**

 **Grover Underwood**  
 **Keeper**  
 **Half-Blood Hill**  
 **Long Island, New York**  
 **(800) 009-0009**

 **"What's Half-"**

 **"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... sum-mer address."**

 **My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

 **"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

Leo snorted.

 **He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**

 **"Why would I need you?"**

Annabeth whacked Percy across the back of his head and soon Piper and Hazel got up to do the same, even Nico got a good hit in on him, much to everyone's surprise.

"Ow! HEY! Guys, c'mon!"

 **It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

"No, duh."

 **Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you."**

 **I stared at him.**

 **All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

"Well, he was. Just not in the way you were protecting him." Jason shrugged and leaned back in his seat.

 **"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

 **There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

"That poor bus." Leo sighs and begins tinkering on something else.

 **After a few minutes clanking around in the engine com-partment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

 **We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from pass-ing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

Frank furrowed his brows and confused look crossed his face. "Why is there a fruit stand on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere?"

"Oh, you'll see." Percy's face darkened and he slouched down in his seat.

"Was it a monster?"

"No, but it might as well have been close enough."

 **The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice.**

"Mm," Leo's mouth watered and his wasn't the only one. "I vote after the next chapter we take a break to get something to eat!"

"I second that!" Percy threw his hand up and it was just about decided for them.

 **There were no cus-tomers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

"Oh no. Percy, are they..." Annabeth couldn't finish her sentence as she turned to stare at her darker-haired boyfriend.

"Yes, they are."

 **I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

Suddenly, Reyna's brows raised and she looked at the couple on the love seat.

"The Fates?!"

"Yeah," Percy swallowed. "The Fates."

Frank choked on air and Hazel covered her mouth, Piper gripped Jason's arm while the blonde gripped the couch's arm rest hard enough to tear fabric with his nails. Leo dropped the tools and Materials in his hand while Nico gave Percy a solemn look as if he was waiting for the other to drop dead any second.

Annabeth's hands shook and her voice quivered. "I'll just...continue then."

 **All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

 **The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

A few whimpers were heard through the group.

 **I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face.**

 **His nose was twitching.**

 **"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-"**

 **"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

 **"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"Not funny!"

 **"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

 **The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

The same thing happened as they all waited with bated breath.

 **"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

"Like that's gonna help..." None of the Roman's could ever remember Reyna's voice ever sounding so unsure and helpless.

 **"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

 **"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

 **Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

"How-How are you still alive?!" Hazel exclaimed staring at one of her newest friends with wide, innocent and watery eyes. Percy couldn't look her in the eyes anymore and turned away.

"It wasn't for me." The tone in his voice kept anyone from asking anything more.

 **At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

 **The passengers cheered.**

 **"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

 **Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

 **Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

 **"Grover?"**

 **"Yeah?"**

 **"What are you not telling me?"**

"A lot."

 **He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

 **"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"Worse." Many of the demigods shuddered and shook as a chill ran through the group.

"So much worse."

 **His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

 **"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

Hazel whimpered.

 **He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't.**

 **It was something else, something almost-older.**

Annabeth cleared throat. "A lot older."

 **He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

 **"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

"A big deal?" Reyna scoffed and crossed her arms. "It's so much more than a big deal!"

 **"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

Annabeth bit her lip and thumbed at the pages. "Oh, Grover. You did good and she knows you did." No one questioned her.

 **"What last time?"**

 **"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

 **"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

 **"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

 **This seemed like a strange request to me, but I prom-ised he could.**

 **"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

 **No answer.**

 **"Grover-that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

Hazel buried her face in Frank's shoulder, wrapping her arms around him. Nico would have given at the son of Mars a death glare, no pun intended, if it wasn't for the look of complete and utter concern plastered across his face.

 **He looked at me mournfully, like he was already pick-ing the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

Annabeth breathed out once more and looked around at the group. "That was the last of this chapter...Who wants to read next?" In truth no one did and everyone looked around at one another before Piper gave a sigh and held her hands out for the book.

"I guess I will."


End file.
